Cooling apparatus.



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PATENTBD SEPT. 19, 1905.

W. B. ALLBRIGHT. COOLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AFR. 1,1903

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\VILLIAM B. ALLBRIGHT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COOLlNG APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 19., 1905.

Application filed pril 1, 1903. Serial No. 150.551.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that], \ViLLIAM B. ALLnniorrr, a citizen of the UnitedStates. residing in Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State ofillinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in CoolingApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an apparatus primarily designed for coolingmelted lard in lard-factories. The lard as it comes from the processtanks or kettles in such factories must be cooled before it is put intothe shipping packages, and especially in the case of compound lards, asthey are termed. composed of animal and vegetable fats or oils, it ismuch better that the cooling should be done as rapidly as possible inorder to avoid crystallization as much as possible. The apparatusheretofore generally employed for this purpose consisted in a revolvingsmooth-sur faced hollow cylinder made of metal andinto the interior ofwhich a current of cold brine or other refrigerating liquid or medium ismade to circulate. The lower segment of the cylinder is immersed for aconsiderable arc in a pan containing the melted lard, a thin sheet ofwhich adheres to the cold surface of the revolving cylinder and isscraped off therefrom by a stationary blade located at the falling side.

In the present invention I dispense with the pan at the bottom of thecylinder and convey the lard to the surface of the cylinder by means ofa trough located at about the level of the axis of the cylinder on therising side and place the scraping-blade immediately below said trough,whereby I get a much longer continuance of the lard coating on thecylindersurface-that is to say, a continuance through a greater portionof a complete revo lution of the cylinder-and, moreover. remove the lardfrom the rising side below the scraping-blade instead of above it, sothat the removed lard falls better into the receptacle.

Although my improved apparatus is especially designed for the cooling oflard, this apparatus without any change whatever in structure may beused for drying glutinous liquids-such, for example, as what is known inlard-factories and packing-houses as stiokby simply heating the brinewhich passes through the interior of the cylinder or by using any otherfluid or gaseous heating medium. So, too, the apparatusis welledaptedfor chilling other material than melted lard.as,for example, forchilling rapidly paraflinin this instance for inducing crystallization.

The invention consists in the various devices and combinations ofdevices which are novel, shown in the drawings, ordescribed in thespecification, as more specially pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification,Figurel is an end elevation of the improved apparatus. Fig. 2 is a sideelevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a. cross-section of the feed-trough andscraperblade. Fig. 4, upon a somewhat larger scale the same as Fig. 3,is a plan view of the feedtrongh broken in the middle to accommodate itto the sheet. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the feed-trough on theline 5 5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the endpacking-blocks.

In the said drawings, 10 is the hollow cylinder having an axial inlet 11and an axial outlet l2 for the circulation of the chilled brine or othertemperature medium in its interior.

13 is the usual gear-wheel for revolving'the cylinder. the same beingconnected with any suitable power mechanism.

14 is the feed-trough, having closed ends 7 and open top and an openside and provided with a contact-packing 15, consisting of a woodenstrip contained in a cavity and backed by springs 16. This packing-stripcomes into contact with the smooth surface of the cylinder and forms a.liquid-tight joint between the trough and the cylinder thatsubstantially prevents any leakage of the contents of the troughdownward. The melted lard is shown in the trough by the dotted line 17.This feed-trough, it will be seen, is located at about the height of theaxis of the cylinder, and only a very narrow are of the cylinder is incontact with the contents of the trough. This will be understood byreference to Fig. 3 of the drawings. The cylinder moves in the directionof the arrow, and its chilled surface passing in contact with the narrowhorizontal band of lard has no opportunity to be heated thereby, butpicks up an even and regular coating. To insure that too thick a coatingshall not be picked up by the rapid chill induced by this apparatus, Iprovide above the trough a round-surfaced bar extending across the faceof the cylinder and which smooths and flattens down the adhering sheetof lard and determines its thickness. This bar, which I call a doctor,is marked 18 and may be adjusted to and from the cylinder-surface byadjusting-screws 19.

To prevent leakage of the trough at the ends of the cylinder, 'thewooden packingblocks 20 are provided one at each end of the trough tobear against the end faces of the cylinder. These end blocks are securedto the trough by bolts 21, passing through slotted openings in theblock, so that said blocks may be adjusted to fit tightly against thecylinder ends. The wooden bar 15 enters a rabbet in the blocks 20 ateach end to insure against leakage. The surface of the block 20 incontact with the end of the cylinder may be faced with cloth or otherpacking substance and the space left between the block and the troughend by adjustment of the block toward the cylinder end packed withcotton-waste to make all tight.

Themelted lard or other material to be treated is led by the pipe 22 toa position above the trough 14. A series of deliverypipes 23 aredistributed along the length of the trough and each provided with avalve 24, which may be opened or closed or partly opened, as desired,and afford a means for delivering the material to be treated inregulated quantity to the trough, from whence said liquid material ispicked up by the cylinder as fast as it is fed in, so that there will beno occasion for an overflow-outlet from the trough; but, if desired,such an overflow-out let may be provided and will be useful in caseswhere the condition of the material to be treated is subject to changefrom time to time, so that it will flow freer at times than at othertimes, in which case the overflowoutlet will avoid the necessityoiiclose watching by the operator.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: Suppose melted lard is tobe chilled. Brine usually at a temperature of about zero of Fahrenheitsthermometer is caused to circulate into and out of the interior of thecylinder. The cylinder is made to rotate at a rate of, say, six or eightrevolutions per minute. The wooden packing-bar and end blocks areadjusted into'contact with the ends and side of the cylinder. The valves24 in the pipes 22 are then opened, and the melted lard flows down intothe feed-trough and is distributed along its entire length, where itcomes in contact withthe moving surface of the cylinder and is picked upby said surface in a sheet. The valves24: are so adjusted that themelted lard does not flow into the feed-trough any faster than thesurface of the.cylinder re moves it therefrom. The doctor above thetrough smooths and flattens the sheet of adhering lard and removes anyexcess, which falls back into the'feed-trough, and deter mines that thesheetof adhering lard shall be of equal thickness throughout that is tosay, prevents an excessive thickness at any part. The movement of thecylinder carries the adhering sheet or coating of lard around in itsrevolution, gradually cooling and chilling the same to the temperatureof the contents of the cylinder or to such approach thereto as producesa satisfactorily-cooled product. When the lard has been thus carriedaround for almost the complete circumference of the cylinder, the cooledlard encounters the scraping-blade or scraper 25, not heretoforedescribed. This scraper is preferably made in sections, five sectionsbeing shown in Fig. 2, and extends across the entire width of thecylinder. The blade is secured to the trough 14 by a bolt 26, whichpasses through a slot or hole in the blade. The surface of the head ofthis bolt next to the blade is made round, and the portion of the trough14, as at 27, is also made round in an opposite curve, so that the bladecan be tipped on the bolt 26. A set-screw .28, tapped into the upper endof the blade at 29, setting against the adjacent surface 30 of thetrough, serves as a means for tightening or slackening the contact ofthe blade with the surface of the cylinder. In each of the five sectionsof the blade, as illustrated in Fig. 2, there are shown for each sectionthree of the bolts 26 and three of the set-screws 28. Thismultiplication enables the blade to be more perfectly adjusted to itswork. When the cooled lard comes around into contact with this blade, itis scraped off from the surface of the cylinder as cleanly as may bedesired and falls int-o the receptacle 31, which may contain the usualmixing pickershaft 32, which operates to mix the cooled lard and forceit gradually to the outlet 33, where it is delivered into the package,or to any other point desired. In practice in the case of lard it iscustomary to apply a pump to the outlet-pipe 33, which forces the lardinto the package.

in treating stick or other glutinous liquid for the purpose of dryingthe same no change is made in the apparatus except such as may bedesired in the receptacle 31, which may be omitted, and except that themedium admitted to the interior of the cylinder for changing thetemperature of its surface shall be a hot one instead ofacold oneas, forexample, hot steam instead of cold brine.

1 claim- 1. In an apparatus for treating fluids the combination of therevoluble temperatureehanging cylinder, a feeding-trough with an openside next to the cylinder and located at the rising side of thecylinder, a wooden packing-strip 15 independent of the trough andmovably fitting the same, the said trough having the projecting portions27 and 30, ascraper IIO mounted below the trough for removing thesolidified materiel, pivoting means for the scraper whereby it is heldtiltably on the said projecting portion 27 of the trough, andedjusting-screws 28 engaging the upper part of the scraper and bearingon the said portion 30 of the trough, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the revolubie ternperature-changing cylinder, afeeding-trough with an open side adjacent to the cylinder and located atthe side of the cylinder, :1, rigid or stifi' packing-strip fitting andsliding on a portion of the trough below said open side,springsinterposed between the trough and strip for causing the strip to presson the cylinder, blocks 20 occupying spaces at the ends of the open sideof the trough, both the trough and the said blocks being formed withrecesses in which the said packing-strip is titted, menus for securingsaid blocks when adjusted toward and against the ends of the cylinder,and a scraper at the side of the cylinder below the trough for removingmaterial from the surface of the cylinder, its and for the purposes setforth.

3. In an apparatus for treating liuids the combination of the revolnbletemperatureehnnging cylinder, a trough located at the side of thecylinder and formed with closed ends, an open side and a bottom flangehaving a cavity extending from end to end of the cylinder, apacking-strip movably seated in said cavity, means for pressing thepacking-strip against the surface of the cylinder, packinghlocksarranged morably ut the ends of the open side of the trough and at theends of the cylinder, and means for securing the packing-blocks whenadjusted toward and against the ends of the cylinder, substantially asset forth.

W] LL! AM B. A LLBRIGHT. Witnesses:

H. M. MUNDAY, \VILLA hlINNlCH.

